“Stand firm then…with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” –Ephesians 6:15
In college I had the privilege of studying for five months in five different Central American countries. During those months we took deep dives into language, culture, history, politics, theology, creation care, sociology, economics, and more. Our classroom was the world around us: we shared life with host families; met farmers, faith leaders, people in co-ops and different political parties; and immersed ourselves in contexts ranging from rural villages, rainforests, refugee resettlements, and mountains, to towns, cathedrals, coastlines, and bustling cities.
In our studies we learned about shalom—the perfect redemptive peace of God’s Kingdom that leads to the flourishing of all creation. Shalom is wholeness and well-being in the fullest sense: right and restored relationship with God, ourselves, our neighbors, and the earth. It’s the lived-out embodiment of God’s justice, mercy, righteousness, love, and peace, between and among everything in creation. Shalom is the beauty and goodness of God’s entire created world, restored to how it was always meant to be. That kind of peace is truly good news!
Before I’d thought about “the peace of God” primarily in a personal sense; like experiencing God’s guidance, presence, intimacy, or comfort, especially in difficult or confusing circumstances. This peace that tends to our hearts is good! Yet shalom expands the reaches of God’s peace to include social implications of what the Kingdom of Jesus looks like as it is lived out in the world. Shalom is “good news” with skin on—not only sharing the joy of who Jesus is, but actively living out the truth of what Jesus’s good news of redemption means for all of creation.
In Central America I saw echoes of shalom and its absence. As I experienced those contrasting, coexisting realities, I began doodling the word “paz” (Spanish for “peace”) to process and pray: What does it look like to live into shalom? How does this shape me as a follower of Jesus? Ten years later, that doodle became my first tattoo; a reminder and encouragement to be someone whose feet are (literally) fitted with God’s good news of peace.
Our passage from Ephesians uses the Greek word eirene for peace, which speaks of peace between individuals (harmony, security, tranquility) and peace with God through the Messiah. Interestingly, it isn’t the only place in scripture where God’s peace is connected to our feet. The prophet Isaiah writes, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” (Is. 52:7, NIV). This is shalom: the peace, mercy, justice, and love of God’s Kingdom that we are all invited to run and proclaim.
The good news is this: in God we have both kinds of peace. We have peace knowing that through Jesus, intimate and restored relationship is made possible between God and people, available to all. And with God’s help we can actively seek to live out shalom in our lives—being “good news” with skin on, wherever we live, love, move, and have our being as Christ’s hands and feet in this world.
Good news, indeed. Praise be to God!
As a response, I invite you to take a prayer walk in your neighborhood or community, looking for places where you see echoes of shalom and blessing the work of God’s Kingdom there, and praying for the spaces where there is a distinct lack of shalom. As you walk, bless those spaces to more fully align with the peace, love, mercy, justice and righteousness of the Kingdom of God—remembering that your feet are fitted with readiness to share the good gospel of peace!
Alternatively or additionally, you can take on a prayerful posture at work, school, or wherever you find yourself from day to day. As you are prayerfully paying attention, ask yourself and the Holy Spirit these questions: Where do you see the goodness of God’s shalom and God’s Kingdom around you? Where do you notice a lack of shalom? How might God be inviting you to bring more of the goodness of the Kingdom wherever you live, work, play or learn? As you ask these questions, see how God invites you to respond. Live into that, and see what happens as you follow the footsteps of Jesus toward shalom.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Annie Aeschbacher has been on staff with InnerCHANGE since March 2017. She currently serves in the Westlake / MacArthur Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, and loves speaking Spanish and sharing life with her immigrant neighbors and friends.